Ireland's finance minister says he sees the Middle East situation deteriorating.

HKEX filing shows Tencent repurchased 1.1 mln shares on July 9, spending HK$500.7 mln.

The PENTAGON is pressing Latin American governments to increase security spending to combat organized crime, saying at a biannual hemispheric defense ministers' meeting in Peru this week that defense budgets should be raised toward about 3.5% of GDP. Deputy Secretary Elbridge Colby said "increasing defense investment is essential" and specifically urged countries facing "narco-terrorism" to act.